COLORS, COLORS

TALK ABOUT COLORS

Hawai'i makes full use of nature's palette.

From the sky

To the depths

And where the two merge

Sometimes it is muted

And the ocean is not always blue

Nor totally green

Blending shadows

And brightness

Creating a masterpiece

Of colors

---

SPECIAL TO LONDON CABBY

Hey Wil
another little one for you to possibly sort out.
When I click on your comment button the window never opens up but starts processing as if something is about to happen. To get it open I have to right click and select "open in a new window". D'you think it's an Internet Explorer thing or maybe even just my computer?
LC

As you know, the only control we have over "comments" is whether they appear in a "pop-up" window or as a full page display. I'll switch over to the full page display and you can tell me if that makes a difference.

If you would do me a favor and try viewing with FIREFOX and tell me if that helps. Trust me. FIREFOX is way better.

---

ONE MORE SHIFT

Tonight marks the end of my workweek. I hope it stays busy. Next week's anticipated downturn in business is really going to screw up my finances, royally. August is when you try to build-up your bank account to help tied you over during the lean months of autumn.

And another night with the phone plugged into my brain. If I didn't have to dispatch, this would be the "perfect" job on Mau'i for my lifestyle. Three times last night people complimented me on my ability to do so many things at one time and still being able to carry on a conversation, albeit disjointed, with them. One couple wanted to know how I was able to remember where everyone was, in the fleet, since I never wrote anything down. I guess I owe it all to a bad drugs, cheap booze and loose women. Or NOT!

LOL

Aloha.



Later.....

Wil
=8^))
"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY

WE'LL TAKE THEM IN REVERSE ORDER

THE UGLY

The latest terrorist fiasco has had an immediate effect on Mau'i. Hotel occupancy has been running near 98% and was booked out that way through Labor Day. For non-US readers, this is celebrated on the first Monday of September and marks the unofficial end of summer. The fallout from two days ago is that reservations are being cancelled and next week the anticipated occupancy rate will be right about 60%, a drop of 38%. That is going to drastically affect the local economy. Airline bookings have drastically dropped nationwide. Part of the reason for the airlines' problems is a variation on the domino effect. An airplane starts its day from one of the major national hubs. These initial flights are being delayed due to all the new BS security checks. Since departure is delayed, then the various arrivals down that plane's work schedule are also delayed. This delay extention eventually propagates to the point that flights are being cancelled so that the plane can eventually return to its original starting hub for the next day's flights. Also, the flight crews have limitations on the hours they can work and there are no crews available to relieve them. FUBAR to the N^th degree. Everyday, the "Land Of The Free" becomes more Draconian.

THE BAD

I worked a very busy shift and I am too dang tired to wait for Blogger to upload pics. If I wake of early enough I'll try to put some up later, but no promises. I am totally bushed.

THE GOOD

Last night was one of the busiest shifts I have had in a long time. While the total number of runs was only 18 (about what I consider average), my average run last night metered $19.25 and 5.2 miles (8.4 km). I actually drove 199 miles (320 km) total during the entire 11-1/2 hour shift. Add to that the fact that I was also the dispatcher last night and at this moment my brain is the consistency of mush (oatmeal cereal).

The "nice passenger" syndrome continued, thankfully, and the only real problem I had during the shift was a driver who was stupid enough to not have a map book and always wanted someone to give him directions to his pickup location. I was too busy to babysit him and told him that. He left in a huff, a green one I think, and felt I was being insulting by telling him he was stupid. I was and he was. No apology for being truthful. Its not like he is a new driver but he is a day driver poaching on our shift and discovering that at night we don't go from one major location to another, we pickup from the obscure to deliver to the oblique. Night drivers know the back streets, hidden alleys and blind driveways. We have to. That is where we make our money. And we each learned this knowledge from trial and error. I will give credit to the drivers who work nights. We, male and female, are crusty, crazy and hardcore. We have to be. It's a matter of survival.

Oh, the reservation load for today's day shift is heavy. A lot of hotels to OGG's. Nobody will probably get lost. But then again....

I am off to bed.

Aloha!



Later.....

Wil
=8^))
"Let's all be careful out there!"

BIG WHEEL KEEP ON TURNIN'

PROUD MARY KEEP ON BURNIN"

This week's fantastic roll just keeps on burnin'. Only 12 trips last night but all were very, very good. LOTS OF $$!! And yet another night with not one obnoxious (or interesting) customer.

I was going to have a "march of the virgins" to celebrate, but one was sick and the other one wouldn't march alone.

The best run of the night was do to a cancelled America West flight. "Crazy Brian", "TT Tina" and I made the best OGG run possible, all the way to the Ritz-Carlton, in Kapalua. That is on the far northwest side of Mau'i. The America West flight from the mainland didn't arrive, actually it never left the mainland. Even though the airline knew hours in advance that there was not going to be a flight, they still kept everyone waiting in the airport until 3 hours past the scheduled departure time before starting to make any arrangements for these stranded people. We have had about a dozen America West flights do this and their company policy for customer service definately needs some drastic correction.

America West is a discount airline. You know, one of those that doesn't have seat belts, just a length of rope and a Boy Scout "Book of Knots". Also no flotation devices, but each seat does have an instruction sheet on "How To Swim In One Easy Lesson".

BTW - Why is it that, as part of the pre-flight instructions, the flight attendant will always say, "In the event of a water landing..." Those jumbo jets aren't equipped with pontoons and a "waterlanding" is a "crash", pure and simple. I guess they don't want people focusing on the fact that a journey to or from Mau'i means that for over 2,350 miles there isn't any dry spot below you. Just 6 picket boats, station keeping along the route.

This whole bru-ha-ha about Islamic terrorist shit has really messed things up at the airports. It seems like something like this always happens as the big re-election campaigns start rolling. Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence.

I have a very simple apolitical philosophy. If they are an incumbent, vote them out of office. All incumbents spend more time and effort getting re-elected than serving the people. "Hey, Dude. You didn't do jackshit the first time around. Why should I believe you are going to do any better on a second trip. Hit the showers, you're history." Oh, well. Enough soapbox chatter for now.

---

NIGHT SHIFT

Most guests to a major resort hotel seldom see the work that is done in the wee hours of the morning. Making sure that everything always looks nice.

These guys are scrubbing the main entrance to The Grand. I took this about 5:00am and they had been at this task for about 3 hours.

---

WORLD MAP

You've seen the flags, just below my banner, representing where all the visitors to PARADISE DRIVER have come from. Well, heres a map showing, in red, the places that those flags represent. 70, so far. And a "cheers" to London Cabbie for giving me a "heads up" about the CIA changing all the links' urls. That is going to take up a lot of my time this weekend, updating all 70 links. I am so happy that I could just shit.

---

TODAY'S PICS

A cruiseship off of Lahaina

Ho'okipa Beach

Seascapes

Our Apollo astronauts used the crater at Haleakala to train for the moon missions in the late '60's and into the '70's. About as close an aprroximation to Selene's domain as can be found on Terra.

Later.....

Wil
=8^))
"Let's all be careful out there!"

NICE IS GOOD

NICE AND PROFITABLE IS EVEN BETTER

Like the prior shift, last night was very genial. I didn't have one passenger who even approached being obnoxious. That's rare. Also, no fights at any of the bars that I am aware of. That's even rarer. This change in personality may be do to the fact that we are back in our normal Tradewind weather. Moderate temps and lower humidity. At bar close (2:00am), the outside temp was 73^of (23.8^oc), which is a drastic change from the high 70's and low 80's that were common last month.

The only driver who had a rough night was Kimo. Kimo has been with Royal Cab for about 12 years, or so, and is THE senior driver. He is 72 and is very healty and as strong as an ox. His age is showing by the hearing loss he is experiencing. By his own admission, he is totally deaf in his left ear and probably has 50% use of his right ear. When he is using to cell phone to take calls, he can't hear the radio and misses a lot of radio traffic. You usually have to call him on the radio 3 or 4 times before you get an acknowledgement. When we are busy, this can really put a damper on the pace of the shift. He also starts getting a bit "fuzzy" after 11:30pm and keeps forgetting what the lineup of cabs is or that he has already dispatched one for a run.

He knows that his days as a cabbie are numbered and I will really miss him when he parks his van for the last time. I tried about a year ago to make things easier for him by realigning the dispatch duties among the other drivers but "Crazy Brian" bitched about having the phone two nights a week and the owner ordered Kimo to take it on Wednesdays. Lets face it, all of us serve at the whim and whimsy of the owner and are subject to termination at any time, for any or no reason at all. Feces occurs.

Speaking of termination, "Drunk Don" involuntarily ended his tenure with Royal yesterday. He did a "meet & greet" at the airport and at the end of the run, to The Grand, he demanded a tip from his fare. The run was on a voucher being paid by the hotel, for a VIP. The VIP was the son of the General Manager of The Grand. The son told his father what had happened and Art, Royals owner, got the call from the GM stating that he didn't want "Drunk Don" ever having contact with any of The Grand's guests in the future. Art went ballistic when he heard what had happened. Basically, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out".

I mentioned before that "The Jerk" is now driving ONE-NINE a few days a week. Well, last night I noticed that the transmission was developing a jerky action when I was just cruising down the highway at 45mph. I have had this happen before on cars with 200-300,000 miles on the odometer. It is the overdrive failing to make contact properly with the engine. This is caused by excessive wear to the transmission. The trouble is that ONE-NINE only has 41,500 miles on the ticker. The only way this could happen would be that the vehicle was doing drag race type starts from a dead stop. Multiple drivers have observed "The Jerk" do this, in ONE-NINE and cab #7, the Lincoln, on multiple occassions. They reported this abuse of company property to the owner and were basically ignored. One commenter here asked if "The Jerk" was related to the owner. The answer is no. And none of the rest of us can figure out why he is still driving. I have seen many drivers let go for far less.

"Mexican Mary" called me at 3:51am this morning, saying she was ready to come in and take over ONE-NINE from me. I had four runs pending and there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that I was going to give any of them up. Hooked up with her later and explained about my shift hours. She and I have known each other for about 10 years, way before either of us started driving cab, and she was very understanding. We settled on an arrangement for the future that will benefit both of us.

Like I said, it was a very genial night

---

TODAY'S PICS

General seascapes

Have you ever seen the Painted Desert in Arizona?
How about the Painted Desert in Australia?
As evidenced here, the crater in Haleakala is easily their peer

Later.....

Wil
=8^))
"Let's all be careful out there!"

NORMAL IS NICE

I HOPE IT LASTS

The sun was setting as I drove to work. A short while later, the full moon finally crested Mt. Haleakala.

Overall, it was a pretty decent night. I didn't get any long runs but I stayed busy and just kept adding up the miles (and dollars). A total of thirteen trips. All the passengers were very nice, and generous, and only one woman was teetering on the borderline of obnoxious. Even my solo hours generated 3 really decent runs.

"The Jerk" called at 4:00am to advise me that he was my relief and that he was going to be driving ONE-NINE.

[count softly and slowly Wil, 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...]

In a very even and calmly neutral voice I informed him that my shift was not over. That my shift ran until 7:00am. That I was currently under fare and would not be back to Wailea until around 5:00am.

When I finally had a face-to-face with him I explained a lot of other things, very calmly. Seems "The Jerks" had a run-in with a senior driver, who threatend to "bitch slap" the S.O.B. Within 30 seconds, "The Jerk" was on the radio complaining to the owner about what was said.

The senior driver involved made a tactical error. You never tell anybody what you are going to do to them. You just do it and then ask afterwards if they understand why you did what you did. If they have not gained comprehension, then you do whatever you did, again. It is one of life's better methods of instruction.

Anyway, I hope that the rest of the week follows last nights trend. It would make life so much easier.

---

TODAY'S PHOTOS

AZEKA - MAKAI

AZEKA - MAUKA (north wing)

AZEKA - MAUKA (south wing)

HALEAKALA TRAILS

Looking back at the West Mau'i Mountains

The Islet of Molokini

Molokini, up close and personal

For this ...

...To become this

Will take another 10-20,000 years of this

Sunset sequence

Later.....

Wil
=8^))
"Let's all be careful out there!"